Are you are looking for a NEW YEAR RESOLUTION that can actually change your life? Try these four 2017 money kick-start resolutions.

If you want accumulate more money, then pay off your credit card and start saving. That’s what resolutions 1 & 2 are about. However, don’t forget about protecting yourself. Keeping what you’ve got is just as important as building more. So resolutions 3 and 4 will help avoid a mess when things go wrong. Number 3 (insurance) is always subject to affordability but if you can do 1 & 2 (above) well, you will be able to afford it. So are my top 4 resolutions for 2017 in a bit more detail:

PAY OFF YOUR CREDIT CARD – this should be a no-brainer. All that money wasted making repayments to a bank could be saved and used to increase your own wealth. I know that many will say, “Easier said than done!”, but you just need to work on a different mindset where a credit card is not your default means of payment. It’s about breaking old ‘buying and paying’ habits and starting new ones. The best way to start is to be a scrooge for a while. It won’t take long to adjust and, before you know it, you won’t feel as much struggle to repay growing debt; and as it reduces, you will begin to notice that have more money available.

SAVE FOR A GOAL – if you can’t think of a goal, then save for a rainy day fund that you can use in case of emergency. It only takes a few weeks of being out of work, or a couple of critical break downs, like the car and fridge, to put a few thousand dollars on your credit card at a time when you can least afford it. Wouldn’t it be good to have some savings to call on instead? Even if you have a period of clear sailing with no emergencies, it’s great to have that feeling of ‘money in the bank’. Then you can use the money to achieve some future goal without having to use a credit card.

INSURE YOURSELF AND YOUR INCOME – Only about one third of Australian adults have adequate personal insurance and the automatic provision of insurance benefits in superannuation accounts for a lot of that. It’s sad that two thirds of us rank ourselves behind our our house and car in terms of importance. But bad things still happen regardless, and it’s only a matter of when. Those who do adequately insure themselves realise that they are the ‘geese who lay the golden eggs’. They are the rainmakers and the providers of the house and car. Clearly, it is people not things that should be protected first. And when you tell me there is no value in personal insurance, let me tell you from experience that some of the most heartening moments in my life have been the smiling faces and looks of utter financial relief as the insurance money arrives; always at a time of crisis and always when the money is needed the most.

MAKE A WILL – these are your instructions on who receives money and property owned by you personally. Don’t assume that, in the absence of a will, everything you own automatically goes to your spouse. There is a standard formula of distribution is Queensland (and similar in other States) and if you don’t have a will, it will be applied. So see a solicitor and make a will, and your beneficiaries will generally receive their inheritance with minimum fuss and cost. If you don’t make a will, the Queensland Public Trustee office will administer your estate and this service is not free. It will be a much slower and more costly process, and your beneficiaries may not be as you’d expect.

For more on how to make money work for you, follow my blog at http://garyweigh.com/

If you would like to ask questions about any of this, feel free to call me. There is no charge or obligation.